


Merry Christmas Strait to You

by cminerva



Series: Christmas in Absaroka [1]
Category: Longmire (TV), Walt Longmire Mysteries - Craig Johnson
Genre: Christmas 1986, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas traditions, Family Feels, Multi, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:46:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28345611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cminerva/pseuds/cminerva
Summary: Cady and her parents enjoy a cozy Christmas Eve and create a new family tradition. Title inspo will be made clear very soon.
Relationships: Martha Longmire/Walt Longmire/Henry Standing Bear
Series: Christmas in Absaroka [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075856
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7
Collections: Longmire Holiday Exchange





	Merry Christmas Strait to You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Myself](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Myself/gifts).



> Prompt by Myself/whatamess: “Unusual holiday traditions (Whoever, but bonus points for Cady and her 3 parents feels)”

_ I hope it cheers you up when you are down and feeling blue _

Henry focused his attention on the greenery that Martha had wanted hung above the fireplace and tried to tune out the jaunty music coming from the kitchen. Walt had delighted his wife by gifting her the George Strait album as an early Christmas gift and the household had known little peace in the weeks since. 

Walt secured his end of the greenery and sang a little under his breath as he worked. “Merry Christmas Strait to you.” He caught Henry’s eye and just laughed at the other man’s disapproving look. “It grows on you.”

“Like a fungus perhaps,” Henry replied. But he could see from his perch on the stepladder that Martha was happy, singing and spinning around the kitchen with Cady. Their sweet redheaded girl was four - nearly five, she kept reminding them - and growing more excited about Christmas by the minute.

“Uncle Bear?” 

Henry looked down at Cady’s eager face.

“Yes, Cub?”

“What do Santa’s reindeer eat?

Henry heard Walt’s quiet chuckle and stifled a sigh before climbing down from the stepladder and kneeling in front of his goddaughter. He had never had much interest in the Christmas traditions that Walt’s family had celebrated when they were kids but he did his best to play along when it came to Cady.

“I do not know,” he told her, relieved to experience a brief moment of honesty among all the silly holiday lies they told this time of year.

“But you know  _ everything _ about animals!”   


Henry chuckled at her indignant tone. 

“Not everything, and I do not know  _ anything _ about magical animals. Non-magical reindeer eat grass, birch bark -.” He was cut off by Cady’s frown.

“Not Santa’s reindeer. They have to eat something special.”

Henry looked to Walt and Martha helplessly. Martha shrugged but Walt gave it a shot.

“Of course they do, punk. Santa’s reindeer eat uh, well they eat...candy canes.”

Walt grinned as Cady’s face lit up.

“I have candy canes!”

“You ate your candy cane last night sweetheart,” Martha reminded her gently.

Cady shook her head and sprinted towards her bedroom.

“No! I have more from Santa Lucian!” she shouted over her shoulder before disappearing into her room.

Martha’s eyes widened and she yelled after her daughter. “How many more?”

She shot a quick glare at Walt who just shrugged, not willing to get in between his wife and his boss. Martha went after Cady and a moment later they returned with their hands full of candy canes. Walt whistled.

“I’m gonna strangle that old goat,” Martha muttered. Cady was beaming and got right to work unwrapping the candies and breaking them into smaller pieces (“even reindeer can’t eat them all at once”) before dropping them into a bowl Walt had helpfully retrieved from the kitchen. 

When the candy canes were ready, Walt and Henry bundled Cady into her cold weather gear and lifted her into her heavy boots. Martha wrapped herself in a blanket from the couch and watched from the doorway while the two men braved the cold and helped Cady scatter the candy pieces in front of the cabin. Henry thought the sticky mess looked like drops of blood in the white snow, but their little girl was beaming by the time they finished. 

Cady’s ability to shape proper snowballs was hindered by her bulky mittens but Walt and Henry permitted themselves to be caught by the loose handfuls of snow she threw at them. Martha giggled from her spot in the doorway when Henry tossed a snowball her way. Cady pouted when the adults declared it time for bed, but she squealed with delight when Walt tossed her up onto his shoulder and hauled her back inside. 

Martha caught Henry’s sleeve on his way in and whispered so that Cady wouldn’t hear. 

“Those candy canes will have to be gone by tomorrow or she’ll be suspicious.”

So to keep the ruse going for Cady - and to ensure none of the local wildlife choked on the hard candy - Walt and Henry found themselves outside again after she was finally asleep. Finding the candy was easy enough even with the sliver of moonlight they had to work by, but the retrieval took some time and they were both happy to head inside and dutifully eat the cookies Cady had left for Santa. Keeping with a tradition Martha had instituted last year, Walt took the little bag of extra cookies Cady had packed for Mrs Claus and tucked it away in the pantry where Martha - Mrs. Claus that is - could enjoy them later. 

Christmas morning started earlier than ever before as Cady’s excited screams rang through the cabin. Henry was an early riser though, and was already in the kitchen making coffee when she came bounding in. Cady was practically vibrating with excitement as she waited for Henry to set down his coffee mug. The moment it touched the counter she flung herself into Henry’s arms and he gave her a little spin, finding himself caught up in the excitement that radiated from the little girl.

“Can we see if the reindeer got their treat?” 

Henry agreed and grabbed Martha’s blanket from the couch as he carried Cady to the front door. After checking to make sure that the thick blanket was tucked around them both, Henry stepped into his boots and carried Cady onto the porch where they could peer out into the snow covered front yard.

“They’re gone!” Cady squealed happily. “Mom, dad, look! The candy canes are gone!”

Walt and Martha watched and smiled from the doorway.

“Ready for presents, punk?”

Cady let out another ear splitting squeal of excitement and Henry winced as he carried her inside and deposited her in front of the pile of gifts which had grown a bit since they’d put Cady to bed the night before.

Martha brought a tray of coffees to the living room then snuggled herself between Walt and Henry on the couch, smiling happily as their daughter fretted over which present to open first.

“You realized you’re going to have to keep up the candy cane bit every year from now on, right?”

Henry glanced over at Walt, who just watched Cady’s delighted face and shrugged.

“Sounds good to me.”

Henry smiled and imagined many more years of Christmases exactly like this, silly lies, sticky candy canes, and all.

“Yes. It sounds very good.”

**Author's Note:**

> The “Merry Christmas Strait to You” album was released in September 1986 which informed the entire timeline for this fic. Ruby reads a magazine featuring George Strait while Cady is in the hospital during season 3 (for those of you who don’t know such things, George Strait is known as the “king of Country” and is still considered a massive star) and that sparked the hc that Martha was probably a big fan and likely had a bit of a crush on him back in the 80s. 
> 
> I also have a very sad but related hc re:Henry and Martha but I'll share that another time!


End file.
